Allowances in the Building and Construction Award

Crane and cement truck

Read about the common allowances in the Building and Construction Award and how they are paid to employees.

On this page:

Important: Electricians, plumbers and other trades

This page has information on the Building and Construction Award.

Electricians, plumbers, landscapers and other labourers may be covered by another award.

For pay and entitlement information, follow our steps to check pay and award rules.

What’s an allowance

An employee may get an allowance depending on where they work and the specific duties they perform. For more information, see Allowances.

The Building and Construction Award has allowances that are:

  • additional payments that are paid per hour, day, week or occasion
  • included in the employee’s pay rate, known as base rate allowances or all-purpose allowances.

All-purpose allowances

An all-purpose allowance is an allowance that is added to an employee's hourly rate. This pay rate is paid for all-purposes, which includes the calculation of:

  • penalties
  • loadings
  • some paid leave.

Under the Building and Construction Award, all-purpose allowances include the industry allowance.

If they are entitled, an employee may also get the following all-purpose allowances:

  • tool allowance
  • underground allowance
  • carpenter-diver allowance
  • electrician’s licence allowance
  • lift industry allowance
  • leading hand allowance.

Tools

An employee required to have standard tools of trade for work gets a tool allowance. The allowance is different depending on the type of trade.

When other tools must be used, the employer must:

  • provide the tools, or
  • reimburse an employee if the employee agrees to provide it.

Check and calculate tool allowances under the Building and Construction Award by using our Pay and Conditions Tool.

Example: Employee entitled to tool allowance

Tom employs different tradespersons including carpenters and painters to work at construction sites. Tom’s employees are required to have their own standard tools to complete work on-site.

Tom knows there are tool allowances in the building and construction industry, but he doesn’t know the rates that apply.

Tom uses the Pay and Conditions Tool to work out the allowances to pay his employees. He learns that there are different tool allowances in the Building and Construction Award, depending on the employees’ trade.

After using the tool, he understands that he will need to pay his carpenters a higher allowance than his painters.

Tom explains to his employees where the tool allowance comes from and why their pay may be different to their workmates’ pay.

Protective clothing and equipment

An employer must provide necessary protective clothing and equipment, except for safety boots.

An employer must reimburse an employee if the employee agrees to provide their own protective gear.

An employer must reimburse an employee for the cost of steel cap safety boots if they are required to wear them. Subject to fair wear and tear, the employer must replace the boots every 6 months if required or sooner by agreement.

Example: Employer providing protective clothing

Amanda is a painter and employs other painters to work with her. They all usually work in the residential construction industry. There’s no uniform requirement and no need to wear protective clothing or equipment.

Amanda wins a commercial contract for work on a larger construction site that has plant, equipment, and cranes in operation. The law says that all workers must wear a hi-vis vest and hard hat when they work at a commercial worksite.

When employees work at the new worksite, Amanda must:

  • supply her employees with the necessary protective gear, or
  • reimburse her employees if they agree to purchase the protective gear themselves.

Reimbursement for damaged or stolen items

An employer must reimburse an employee if their personal items get damaged at work by corrosive or harmful substances.

Personal items can include:

  • clothing
  • glasses
  • hearing aids
  • tools.

Corrosive or harmful substances include:

  • acid
  • sulphur
  • fire
  • molten metal
  • other deleterious substances.

Employees are also entitled to be reimbursed for tools that are stolen while:

  • stored on-site or at the employer’s premises, or
  • being transported by the employee at the employer’s direction.

The replacement value also applies in the case of fire:

  • occurring on a worksite, or
  • at the employer’s premises where tools are stored.

Example: Tools stolen from a worksite

Jason is a carpenter working on a residential construction site. As part of this work, Jason is required to maintain many power tools. These tools are too bulky to transport home each day.

Jason’s employer, Stefano, directs him to store these tools overnight on-site. This is because the tools would take too long to set-up and dismantle at the beginning and end of each day’s work.

Overnight, the worksite is broken into and some of Jason’s tools are stolen. Jason provides Stefano with a list of what was taken and they file a police report.

Jason then replaces the tools that were stolen and is reimbursed by Stefano for the cost.

Meals

Most employees get a meal allowance after working 1.5 hours of overtime.

For more information on meal allowances while living away from home on distant work, go to Living away from home on distant work.

Example: Meal allowance

Oscar works for a bricklaying company and is covered by the Building and Construction Award. Oscar is a qualified bricklayer.

Oscar is unsure what his meal allowance is when working overtime.

Oscar uses our Pay and Conditions Tool to find out what he is entitled to when required to work overtime.

He finds out he should be paid a meal allowance after working 1.5 hours of overtime after his normal finishing time.

Oscar saves the result to show his boss the next day at work to confirm this entitlement.

Getting to and from work

There are different allowances for:

Fares and travel

An employee gets the daily fares and travel allowance if:

  • work starts and finishes at a construction site, and
  • they’re not getting the distant work allowance.

An employee gets this allowance if they do pre-fabricated work at a depot and then erects it on-site that same day.

An employee doesn’t get this allowance if the employer:

  • offers or arranges for someone else to pick up and drop off the employee from their home, or
  • provides a fully maintained work vehicle free of charge.

Learn more about the fares and travel allowance from our Library article: Starting or finishing work offsite in the Building and Construction Award.

Example: Daily fares and travel allowance

Sang is a painter. He starts and finishes work at building sites.

Sang is required to drive himself to work on Mondays. He gets picked up and dropped off at his home by his employer for the rest of the week.

Sang gets the fares and travel pattern allowance on Mondays. He doesn’t get this allowance for the rest of the week because his employer drives him.

Travelling during work

Travelling between worksites during work hours is paid work time.

If the employer doesn’t provide transport, the employee will get paid time and:

  • an allowance to cover the reasonable cost of public transport between the sites, or
  • a vehicle allowance if the employee uses their own vehicle.

To work out the allowance, use our Pay and Conditions Tool.

Example: Travelling between worksites

Cabe is a carpenter who works for a medium-sized building company with several different sites.

Cabe has been working at one site for most of the week. One afternoon, he is asked to help at another site.

Cabe’s boss, Mitch, asks him to drive his ute to the other site so Mitch can take the work trailer with him.

Cabe gets his usual hourly rate for time spent travelling between the worksites. He also gets a vehicle allowance because he uses his own car.

Distant work

Under the Building and Construction Award, distant work occurs when both the following apply:

  • a construction site is located outside the metropolitan radial area of where the employee lives, and
  • an employee is required to travel more than 50km by road to and from their home to the construction site.

Depending on where the employee lives, the metropolitan radial area is the area within a 50km radius of:

  • the general post office in their capital city, or
  • the principal post office in their regional city or town.

This entitlement doesn’t apply to an employee if the first construction site was more than 50km from their home when they were hired.

An employee performing distant work gets:

  • payment for reasonable time spent travelling outside ordinary working hours, rounded to the next quarter of an hour with a minimum payment of 30 minutes per day for each return trip, and
  • reimbursement for reasonable travel expenses incurred (if the employee uses their own vehicle, an allowance is paid for each kilometre travelled).

An employee getting distant work pay doesn’t get other entitlements, like overtime for the time spent travelling. Learn all the rules and read other examples in our Library article: Distant work in the Building and Construction Award.

Example: Distant work pay

Keren is a lift mechanic. She lives and usually works within the Brisbane metropolitan radial area.

Keren’s work is contracted to fit out some lifts on the Gold Coast. She travels to and from the worksite from home every day.

When Keren works on the Gold Coast, she gets the distant work pay allowance as this situation meets the 2 rules set for distant work pay:

  • she travels more than 50km from her home to the construction site
  • the construction site is outside the 50km radius of the Brisbane General Post Office.

Example: Working more than 50km from home and outside the metropolitan radial area

Zach is a roof tiler and employs several employees.

Zach and his employees all live in the same area. The roofing jobs are usually local, but his next contract is 75km away and it will take 60 minutes to drive there. The building site is also located outside the 50km radius of the metropolitan radial area.

Transport provided to employees

Zach will drive 4 employees to and from the worksite in the work truck. He picks them up from their homes.

These employees won’t get the distant work pay because they are provided with transport.

Employee not provided with transport

Larrie works for Zach and is required to make his own way to the worksite every day.

Larrie gets the distant work pay allowance as this situation meets the 2 rules set for distant work pay:

  • he needs to travel more than 50km from his home to the worksite
  • the worksite is outside the metropolitan radial area.

Living away from home on distant work

An employee gets living away from home on distant work entitlements if the worksite is too far to return home each day.

An employee who qualifies for the living away from home distant work entitlement will:

  • get a payment to cover all reasonable costs for accommodation and meals
  • be provided with accommodation including 3 adequate meals a day, or
  • be provided with accommodation and reimbursement for all reasonable meal expenses.

The payment to cover all reasonable costs for accommodation and meals is the higher of:

  • the living away from home allowance, or
  • reimbursement for all reasonable accommodation and meal expenses.

If the employee is living in camp, they get all board and accommodation for free.

Visit our Library for more information at Travelling and living away from home in the Building and Construction Award.

Example: Living away from home

Taylor is a road worker in Adelaide.

Taylor’s next worksite is part of major highway repairs on a stretch near Woomera in the state’s north.

Woomera is over 500km from his home. Taylor is unable to travel to and from his home to the new worksite each day.

Taylor’s employer, Jo, organises a short-term rental for him and some other employees to share in town while they are away.

Taylor won’t receive an allowance for accommodation while on distant work as suitable accommodation was provided.

Because the short-term rental has cooking facilities, Jo gives Taylor and the other employees the option of cooking for themselves or eating out. Jo will then reimburse them at the end of the week for their expenses.

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How to use this information

Follow our tips to find allowances under the Building and Construction Award:

Find out if the Building and Construction Award applies

Allowances can come from an award or enterprise agreement.

Awards don’t apply when an employer has an enterprise agreement in place. Check if there's an enterprise agreement by following our steps on Finding an agreement.

If there’s no enterprise agreement, an award will most likely apply such as the Building and Construction Award. To understand who this award covers, go to About the Building and Construction Award.

Not sure if the Building and Construction Award is the right award? Learn about other common awards in this industry at Working in building and construction.

Understand when allowances apply

Find more detailed information about the different allowances and when they apply by checking the allowance clauses in the award.

Our Library also has information about allowances under specific awards, like the following articles for the Building and Construction Award:

Search for other articles in the Library.

Calculate allowances

Calculate an allowance with our Pay and Conditions Tool.

We have a pay guide for each award, which contains all the relevant pay rates and allowances. Find the pay guide for your award on at Pay guides.

Fix a workplace problem

If there’s an issue with pay, an employee or employer should speak to the other person in the first instance. This is often the simplest and most effective way to resolve issues.

We recommend:

If a small business employer has a workplace problem, they may be able to access free and tailored written advice from our Employer Advisory Service. Find out more: Employer Advisory Service.

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